British Journal of Medical Psychology (1988).

61, 1-2 Printed in Great Britain 1

Stress and health : An introduction

Stress, in the early formulations of psychosomatic relationships, was linked with

disordered physiology, medicine and psychiatry. A symposium of enduring quality
with a shared Anglo-American authorship, was entitled Stress and Psychiatric Disorder
(Tanner, 1960).
The ‘person ’ as an involved intermediary between stress and strain, appears later
as in the title The Psychology and Physiology of Stress (Bourne, 1969).
The transfer of interest from the laboratory and the clinic into real life - even if
an unspeakable aspect of real life - is indicated in the subtitle to Bourne’s book ‘with
reference to special studies of the Viet Nam war’.
Currently, the conceptual shift has been towards health rather than disease, to
health psychology rather than medical psychology. Much of this research has been
carried out in the occupational health and psychological sciences (Kasl & Cooper,
1987; Mackay & Cooper, 1987). It seemed important to bring together some leading
stress researchers and scholars to highlight the links between stress and health,
outlining existing theory and examining empirical studies.
This Special Issue explores a number of areas currently being researched in the
USA and in Europe. If we look at the stress process as composed of environmental
stimulants or stressors, moderators (e.g. social support, Type A behaviour), and
stress manifestations or strains (e.g. both psychological and physiological), each of
the articles in this issue explores a dimension of this paradigm.
Krantz looks at environmental factors and their links to cardiovascular health. He
brings the stress/strain relationship into dynamic perspective. Ganster & Victor and
Ivancevich & Matteson look at two of the ‘hottest’ empirical issues in the field of
stress, the significance of social support and Type A behaviour as moderators and/
or precursors to health. These issues are not only of topical interest, but also of
methodological concern. The significance of personality and strain is explored by
Eysenck, who emphasizes a number of different characteristics of health. Eysenck’s
paper may encourage research workers to go beyond the traditional psychometric
approach. In addition, the process by which stress adversely affects health
(particularly cancer) is an important issue and is raised by Kennedy, Kiecolt-Glaser
& Glaser, in their paper on the impact of stress on the immune system.
These preceding papers looked at the effect of stressors, precursors and moderators
on health outcomes, primarily as ‘paired relationships ’. Cooper & Baglioni develop
an empirically driven model, which relates aspects of the stress/moderator/strain
paradigm. This is the first time that such a model has been empirically developed, and
further work in generalizing to other populations is encouraged.
We have brought together international experts in the field of stress and health,
and we hope that their contributions and this Special Issue provide a stimulating
contribution to the field of health psychology.
CARY L. COOPER and SIDNEY CROWN
Special Issue Editors
1 M P S 61
2 Stress and health ; A n introduction

References
Bourne, P. G. (Ed.). (1969). The Pychology and Physiology of Stress. London: Academic Press.
Kasl, S. V. & Cooper, C. L. (1987). Stress and Health: Issues in Research Methodology. Chichester:
Wiley.
Mackay, C. & Cooper, C. L. (1987). Occrrpational Stress and Health: Some Current Issues. In C. L. Cooper
& I. T. Robertson (Eds), International Review of Industrialand OrganixationalPycholoD, 198%Chichester :
Wiley.
Tanner, J. M. (Ed.). (1960). Stress and Pychiatric Disorder. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.